Get to know Erika & Marie, & learn why we started Working Moms of San Antonio

So when do we look at the camera?

I don't know, it's the very first one.

I know, it's exciting.

Here we are.

You'll be entertained, you'll be informed, and hopefully find some value in what we have to offer. We're Erika Radis and Marie Lifschultz, a San Antonio area realtor and lender, but most importantly, we're working moms.

The goal of this podcast is to provide support and a sense of community to San Antonio area working moms like us. So join us in trying to find a balance between career, family, and everything in between.

Welcome to the first episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. Okay, it's the very first one.

I know, it's exciting.

Here we are.

It's very exciting. We're here and we're trying to figure out what we're doing.

Yeah, so, um, well, I guess what we'll do is we'll just talk about, um, why we started the group in the first place, the Working Moms of San Antonio Facebook group. Um, it was 2019.

Yeah, 2019. And we wanted to find ways to connect with moms like us that worked and had kids and families and also a career that they were trying to grow.

Yeah, that's right. So, um, as I'm sure any of these listeners know that are working parents, it's super, super hard to make new friends unless it's work-related or maybe at your kids' school.

CYOs, sports, yeah, are the only ways you get to meet, you know, families that are like-minded. And we wanted to create a community for moms that were working and maybe have a resource to help each other with, you know, daily questions. Hey, where's the best daycare? Who's your best hairstylist? What realtor do you use? Does anybody know a lender?

Right, right.

So we wanted to be able to help other people and connect with other people that we might be able to be a resource for and also allow them to be a resource for others.

Yes, no, that's right. So, um, yeah, so we started the group and I think initially we were hoping we might get 200 or 300 members and now we're all the way up to I think almost 6,000.

Almost 6,000! Yay for us!

Yay! So, um, yeah, I mean, we try to provide good resources for the members. Um, we do a newsletter where we feature a business from one of the ladies. So that gives you guys just a little bit more exposure. And so we're here to just help you guys and be hopefully a valuable resource to you. So yeah, I mean, that was the point of the group and I think we've succeeded.

We have, we've done really well.

In most ways, I think we have.

We've done really well. I mean, we got through COVID and we grew during COVID We had some virtual events. That were fun. We've been, you know, hopefully we're getting to our outdoor events again and meeting up with people and just making new friends and being there for each other and to really support everyone in their careers. So Erika, I really wanted to know, you know, when did you get into real estate? Oh gosh, it's been a while. Yeah, a while.

It's sort of a weird story in a way, but when I was in high school, I needed a job. And so a friend of mine told me that a local real estate company needed a receptionist. And so, as you know, I can talk and I can answer the phone. I like to be on the phone. So I took that job and that was when I was like first introduced into real estate. And it is a wild industry full of crazy ups and downs. And honestly, it's just sort of addicting. So I took that job and then after a little while I became a transactions coordinator, like working behind the scenes for the owner. And then I went to college and I got my design degree and stuff. And, you know, I, I did that and I actually took a job at a tax office for 5 years thinking that was going to be a temporary job for me. All of a sudden temporary turns into 5 years. So, but I always, always still wanted to be in real estate. I was just always in the back of my mind. And so, um, I guess it was 2014. I had just had my second daughter. Um, and I decided, well, you know what, I'm going to go get my license.

Yeah.

You know, first of all, people think it looks so glamorous, right? When I was answering the phones and stuff, I was like, oh my gosh, these ladies are so fancy. They get to go into these houses and you don't see, um, all the hard work, all the other stuff. Yeah. Which I'm sure is true of so many careers. So I did that. I got my license. Now I've been selling for 8 years with the same brokerage, Kimberly Howe Properties. And she's actually the woman that I worked for all those years ago. So I've known Kim for just a good long while.

That's great. So that was me in real estate.

Yeah. So, um, and just trucking along. Yeah.

Well, and it gives you the ability to be mom.

Yeah.

Wife and career.

That's right.

That type of career.

Yeah, that's right. And so, um, Obviously, we work together. Yes, you are my fave lender. And so, um, how long have you been in the business? Quite a while.

Quite a while. Yeah, 20 years. So I kind of fell into lending. I came home from school and I had a family member who was in the banking industry, in the mortgage industry, and said, hey, we just needed help. So I jumped in to help as a temp, and 20 years later, I'm still in the same industry. So for the sales side, I've always been on the back end. I've always been in the back end of the office, right? So I love that part. I'm very analytical and I love that, that part of it. But I also worked with a high-producing loan officer for a long time and he medically retired.

Yes.

And I had helped him build his book of business for some time and I really didn't want that to just go away. So I decided to take a leap of faith and talked to my husband and said, hey, we're gonna do this, and he gave me all the support I needed. And I've now been on the sales side, I think, almost 6 years now.

Oh wow.

So it's— I've been in the industry a long time, but on the sales side, uh, a little bit less time. So it was learning to network and meet other people was— has been a challenge for me. I'm not as outgoing as I'd like in networking. It's nice to stay home and watch Netflix. Yeah. But this gave us an opportunity. We met. Yeah. And we connected really well, and it gave me an opportunity. Hey, this so bad I get to meet friends. Maybe we can do this on a larger scale, right? So we want to make friends. Yeah, that's the goal, making friends.

Yeah, that's right. And I think the group helps us do that. It has, you know, so far at these meetups and other things like that. So I feel like that's good. And, you know, we get to also talk about mom stuff, which is so much of our lives.

Yes, very much of our lives. So I have— I'm a bonus mom to a 19-year-old now. He's 19 and lives in Tennessee. But I have 2 boys at home, so I am a boy mom all the way through. And Erika, how many you got?

3. 3 kids, all girls. All girls. So really the complete opposite world. I don't know what's better or worse, if there is such a thing. Girls, I always feel like girls are like, there's not as much hitting and, you know, physically wrestling and fighting and that kind of stuff. But there's a lot of like, like verbal, emotional, sort of like, you know, they'll cut you to the core, that type of thing.

Typically you walk in and I remember walking in one day and I had WWE SmackDown and I'm being attacked and trampled into my living room. So boys are great, girls are awesome. Yeah, I think I'm the only girl plus the cat at my home.

Yeah.

So, but yeah, and we love being around our kids and our families and this group allows us to do that and, you know, and hopefully have resources, right? Yeah. For, for the kids, for families, and we're here to support everyone who's in the group.

Yeah, definitely. So, um, I guess maybe we should talk about why we started this podcast and what we hope to achieve from it, right?

Well, so everything's going virtual, you know. I don't know, I know Erika's a big podcast listener. I started to do that very recently, and I enjoy it. I love having in the background, but, um, you always, um, need different I guess avenues to meet people, to connect with people. Coming out of COVID I don't know if you've seen it, but I've seen it even with the kids. It's harder to connect with people. Yeah. We've been distanced for so long.

Yeah. I feel like people are less willing to go out now, you know, and I even find myself doing that, which is crazy because for my career, you have to go out.

Yeah.

You know, just a little clue into real estate. You have to leave the house.

Everything's not virtual.

Yeah. I mean, sometimes I wish it was too. To be honest, I'm like secretly like a recluse. You would never know from my career choice, but I love to be at home and I love, you know, doing things from home and just kind of bumming around. And so, yeah, but I mean, you're right. You're 1000% right after COVID, you know, it's, it's hard to get out there and it's even harder because there's less people out there.

Yeah. There's a lot less people. But also I think we wanted to start the podcast to really support the group. We realized how much it grew, right? Over the time, I'm like, wow, this is a great platform to help spotlight some working moms in San Antonio. Not just not us, like, really support and be a resource for everyone in our group. And we thought this might be a good way to start. And we're going to kind of see how it goes. Yeah, yeah. You know, there's going to be trial and error. We're going to, we're going to try some things and we're not really sure exactly how it's going to go. But we're hoping for the best. And hopefully, you know, we'll have some great working mom businesses that will jump in and, you know, we'll get to interview them and hear all about their story.

Yeah, so I think, you know, we'll obviously cover mom topics, parenting and relationships and that kind of stuff. We'll probably throw in a little bit of real estate stuff, but most importantly, what I really want to do is have guests on, guests on from the group that can— we can sort of put a face to those businesses that we see, you know, being advertised on Fridays in our group.

Well, I think the biggest challenge in my industry is I'm an email, I'm a text, I'm online, but we're people and we know that there's a lot of people. And then the more you know that there's a person behind whatever service you're looking for, right, the better connection you'll have.

For sure. For sure. So yeah, I mean, I really hope that we get some interested businesses that want to talk about why they do what they do and why they started and What's the weirdest thing that's ever happened in their industry? I want to know all the stuff.

Fun stuff. And we're going to make it fun. Hopefully the— we love talking.

Yeah, for sure.

We love talking to each other. We have great stories. So hopefully those will come out and you'll be entertained. You'll be informed and hopefully find some value in what we have to offer.

Definitely. Yeah.

Yeah.

So I think that this was just like a first little intro into, you know, what we hope the podcast will become. And I think just like anything else that you try, maybe you're getting out of your comfort zone a little bit, it will evolve and change. As we hopefully learn some new things. Maybe the video gets better, maybe the sound gets better, maybe, you know, we switch it up. But for now, um, this is kind of what we were thinking.

This is us.

Yeah, this is us. We're normal, we're here, we're just like you guys, and we want to be— we want to be able to, like you said, provide resources. And, and I, I like to serve. Yeah, so hopefully this helps other people out there.

Yeah, definitely. So, um, stay tuned, you know, for further episodes, and we'll just kind of go from there.

I know, right? I'm excited.

Yeah, me too. Very excited.

All right, that's it then.

All right, that's the end of episode 1. All right, thanks.

We'll see you guys.

Bye, guys.

Thanks so much for tuning in to the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. Be sure to follow us on social media at our respective Instagram accounts or join our Working Moms of San Antonio Facebook group. Those links can be found in our episode description. If you have an episode topic suggestion or question, Please email us at office@radisagent.com and be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review. See you next week.